The Scowcroft Center’s namesake, General Brent Scowcroft, was the chairman of the 1983 Scowcroft Commission that established the foundation for US nuclear deterrence and arms control policy through the present day. As the United States enters a new era of strategic challenges, the Scowcroft Center’s Forward Defense program is proud to play a central role in crafting an effective and nonpartisan strategic forces strategy and policy for the twenty-first century.

The 2022 National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review caution that the United States will, for the first time in its history, face the challenge of simultaneously deterring two nuclear great powers, each with aggressive revisionist goals. Our Nuclear Strategy Project, within the Forward Defense program, focuses on the role of nuclear deterrence, nuclear strategy and employment, missile defense, and arms control in deterring conventional aggression and nuclear escalation against the United States, its allies, and partners.

Principal research areas

Must Reads

Report

Feb 2, 2024

Requirements for nuclear deterrence and arms control in a two-nuclear-peer environment

By Greg Weaver and Amy Woolf

Gregory Weaver and Amy Woolf discuss the future of US nuclear posture and arms control, as the United States will soon face two adversaries with peer nuclear arsenals.

Arms Control China

Commentary & quick analysis

New Atlanticist

Apr 11, 2024

Is the United States falling behind the North Korean ICBM threat? Congress needs answers.

By Robert Soofer

Washington must not wait until Pyongyang is regularly test-launching ICBMs with multiple re-entry vehicles and countermeasures to improve US defenses.

Defense Technologies Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2024

The US is building a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile. Congress must make sure it’s built right.

By Robert Soofer

There are forces at play—bureaucratic, budgetary, and programmatic—that could stymie the SLCM-N if US lawmakers do not pay close attention.

Defense Technologies Nuclear Deterrence

New Atlanticist

Feb 15, 2024

Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapons would require a firm US response, not hysteria

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, Mark J. Massa

If fielded, such weapons would directly challenge norms of responsible behavior in space and present a serious risk to all nations’ satellites.

Arms Control Russia

Experts react

Feb 15, 2024

Experts react: What to know about Russia’s apparent plans for a space-based nuclear weapon

By Atlantic Council experts

Reports that Russia is developing a space-based nuclear anti-satellite weapon have raised national security concerns in Washington.

Defense Policy National Security

New Atlanticist

Nov 28, 2023

As the US faces down new nuclear threats, will Cold War solutions work once again?

By Alyxandra Marine

The tripolar nuclear power world is certainly new; but the deterrence theories of the Cold War may not need to be completely changed, our experts find.

China Nuclear Deterrence

Reports & issue briefs

Issue Brief

Oct 7, 2024

Strategic stability in the third nuclear age

By Matthew Kroenig

The world is entering a third nuclear age. This brief explores global strategic stability in the 2020s and 2030s.

NATO Nuclear Deterrence

Issue Brief

Oct 4, 2024

How the US and Europe can counter Russian information manipulation about nonproliferation

By Natasha Lander Finch, Ryan Arick

This strategic framework presents the findings and recommendations of the Atlantic Council project to develop and strengthen comprehensive responses to counter Russian foreign malign influence that undermine nonproliferation norms and regimes in Eastern Europe.

Disinformation Europe & Eurasia

Issue Brief

Sep 10, 2024

Russian and Chinese strategic missile defense: Doctrine, capabilities, and development

By Jacob Mezey

In a follow up to Matthew R. Costlow and Robert M. Soofer’s paper, US Homeland Missile Defense: Room for Expanded Roles, former Forward Defense Program Assistant, Jacob Mezey, seeks to inform debates about missile defense policy by placing arguments that US ballistic missile defenses are uniquely destabilizing in the context of efforts by Russia and China to deploy similar systems.

China Defense Policy
Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS)

Issue Brief

Jul 15, 2024

Modernizing space-based nuclear command, control, and communications

By Peter L. Hays and Sarah Mineiro

While nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) is in the midst of a modernization overhaul, the space-based elements of NC3 face unique geopolitical, technical, and bureaucratic challenges. This paper focuses on space-based missions and elements of the existing NC3 system, analyzing how ongoing modernization programs are addressing these challenges as well as offering recommendations.

China Defense Policy

Report

Feb 2, 2024

Requirements for nuclear deterrence and arms control in a two-nuclear-peer environment

By Greg Weaver and Amy Woolf

Gregory Weaver and Amy Woolf discuss the future of US nuclear posture and arms control, as the United States will soon face two adversaries with peer nuclear arsenals.

Arms Control China

Past events

In the news

In the News

Nov 22, 2024

Mezey quoted in The New York Times on Ukrainian long-range missile strikes into Russia

By Atlantic Council

On Tuesday, November 19, an excerpt from former Forward Defense Program Assistant Jacob Mezey’s Issue Brief “Russian and Chinese strategic missile defense: Doctrine, capabilities, and development” was quoted by an article in The New York Times covering Ukrainian long-range missile strikes into Russia using US-made ATACMS systems.

Conflict Missile Defense

In the News

Nov 18, 2024

Soofer quoted in Breaking Defense on the production timeline for the sub-launched cruise missile

By Atlantic Council

On November 15, Forward Defense Senior Fellow Rob Soofer was quoted in an article for Breaking Defense on the challenges to producing the nuclear submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N).

Defense Industry Defense Policy

In the News

Nov 6, 2024

Michta for RealClearDefense on how the Pentagon must re-strategize weapon procurement

On November 4, Director and Senior Fellow of the Scowcroft Strategy Initiative Dr. Andrew Michta published an article or RealClearDefense on the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and how Pentagon planners and defense contractors should re-strategize its approach to weapons and munitions procurement. He pointed out that the most sophisticated long-range precision fire […]

Defense Industry Defense Policy

In the News

Oct 22, 2024

Braw in Foreign Policy on Russia’s infamous arms dealer Viktor Bout’s connection with the Houthis

By Elisabeth Braw

On October 22, Transatlantic Security Initiative senior fellow Elisabeth Braw wrote an op-ed in Foreign Policy discussing Russia’s infamous arm dealer Viktor Bout’s connections with the Houthis in Yemen.

Arms Control Europe & Eurasia

In the News

Oct 18, 2024

Soofer published in The National Interest on homeland missile defense

By Atlantic Council

On October 16, Forward Defense Senior Fellow Rob Soofer published an article in the National Interest with co-author Dr. Peppino DeBiaso titled “A Homeland Missile Defense Agenda for the Next President.”

Defense Industry Defense Policy

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Forward Defense, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, generates ideas and connects stakeholders in the defense ecosystem to promote an enduring military advantage for the United States, its allies, and partners. Our work identifies the defense strategies, capabilities, and resources the United States needs to deter and, if necessary, prevail in future conflict.